Lance-Corporal Stanley Dean Swift, 20735, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, died on July 6th, 1916, from wounds he had received during the opening of the Battle of the Somme. He was aged 22, a native of Luton and went out to the front on February 24th, 1916.

He had married Emily Lydia Carter at St Paul's Church on November 1st, 1915, and it was to her at her family home, 37 Tavistock Street, Luton, that Church of England Chaplain the Rev J. M. S. Walker wrote from the 21st Casualty Clearing Station where her husband died.

Sgt William Hyde, 13379, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, died in the 21st Casualty Clearing Station in France on July 2nd, 1916, from wounds sustained the previous day at the start of the Battle of the Somme.

Born and living in Toddington, he was the son of George and Mary Ann Hyde. He left a widow, Alice, and one child, Alice Elizabeth, who were later living at 45 Collingdon Street, Luton. He is included on the Luton Roll of Honour.

L-Cpl Charley George Cox, 19213, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on July 1st, 1916. He would have been 22 years old the following week.

Born in Barkway, Herts, he was single and the eldest son of Walter and Elizabeth Sophia Cox, of 166 North Street, Luton. Prior to enlistment he worked at the hat manufacturing premises of Messrs G. Dimmock & Co, Melson Street, Luton, in the felt department.

Pte Frank Gates, 13335, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in the "Big Push" on the Somme on July 1st, 1916. He was aged 23.

The son of the late Benjamin (died 1908) and Elizabeth Rose Gates, of 82 Burr Street, Luton, he was before the war employed by George Kent's Ltd and was a regular attendant at the Wesleyan Central Mission Brotherhood. He enlisted with the Colours at the outbreak of war.

Pte Lionel Ralph Worsley, 3/7730, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in the Big Advance at the start of the Battle of the Somme on July 1st, 1916. He was aged 33, married and lived at 24 Ash Road, Luton.

He and his comrades had leapt over the parapet, and Lionel, a bomber, was pointing out to his gunner pal a number of enemy troops in a trench when a sniper shot him in the head. He fell back into his comrades arms and died instantly. The Beds & Herts Saturday Telegraph said he had been buried in a hero's grave at Carnoy.

Prominent Luton athlete Sgt Percy Edward Rickard, 3/8141, 7th Bedfords, was killed instantly while in action on the first day of the Battle of the Somme - July 1st, 1916.

Well before official confirmation was received, parents William and Lucy Rickard, of 45 Crawley Road, Luton, had had letters from comrades who saw him fall.

Pte Stanley Walter Fensome, 15296, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on July 1st, 1916. He was aged 20 and the eldest son of Luton bootmaker Mr Walter Fensome and his wife Elizabeth, of 63-65 Duke Street, High Town.

The sad news for his family was contained in a letter from the Wesleyan Chaplain to the battalion, the Rev G. Jarvis Smith. He said Stanley was killed in action on the Saturday morning and he had found his body soon after the battle was over. Stanley was given a Christian burial and the spot where he fell had been carefully marked.

Pte Frederick Herbert Carter, 15249, D Company, 7th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on July 1st, 1916. He never again got to see his wife, Jessie (nee Walters), of King's Road, Luton, after he married her while on leave a year earlier and had had to make a hurried return to his regiment.

Jessie received the official notification of he husband's death on July 20th. He had gone to France on July 26th, 1915, and was never fortunate enough to get home leave afterwards.

Pte Frederick William Armstrong, 19794, 7th Bedfords, was killed in action on July 1st, 1916 - the first day of the Battle of the Somme. He was aged 20.

Born in a cottage at Eaton Green Farm, Stopsley, in 1896, he was the son of Thomas and Annie Elizabeth Armstrong. His brother Charles, also a private in the 7th Bedfords, wrote to his parents with the sad news of his death. Frederick had been homes on leave five weeks before his death.

Pte Horace Charles Day, 15086, 7th Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in France on January 21st, 1916. He was aged about 21.

Born in Slip End, he was listed in the 1911 Census as a boot shop assistant living with his twice-widowed mother Sophia at Pepperstock. His parents were married in October 1892, but his father Charles died around 1899.

Little was written in the Press about Horace at the time of his death, but he is commemorated on both the Flamstead and Luton war memorials.

Sgt Harry Pestell, 16949, C Company, 7th Bedfords, was killed in action near Fricourt, France, on January 21st, 1916. He was aged 29.

Born in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, in 1887, he had for about 14 years made his home with Ernest and Fanny Barford, who at the time of Harry's death were running a grocery stores at 44 Old Bedford Road, Luton. Harry was working as a grocer's assistant at the shop at the time of the 1911 Census.

Pte Alfred Tuffnell, 3/8144, 7th Battalion Beds Regt, died in Flanders on November 4th, 1915. Surprisingly nothing seems to have appeared about him in the local Press around the time of his death, unlike the deaths of two brothers.

Alfred was the third of three sons - Henry, Benjamin plus Alfred - who had still been living with their widowed mother Ann Tuffnell at 15 York Street, Luton, to perish in the war. And a fourth son, George, had died in 1903 following an accident at Hayward Tyler's, where he worked.

Pte Arthur Edward Strange, 19791, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action at Bécordel-Bécourt on September 20th, 1915. He was aged 20.

Born and living in Wiltshire most of his life, he had worked in the Air Department at George Kent's in Luton for about a year before enlisting with comrades from the factory at the beginning of 1915. Flags at the Biscot Road factory were flown at half-mast in his memory.